Dubai, United Arab Emirates — An aerial drone launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels It struck and damaged a ship in the Red Sea on Sunday, officials said, in the group’s latest attack targeting shipping in the vital shipping corridor.
The attack occurs as The United States has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower home. after an eight-month deployment in which he led the US response to Houthi attacks. Those attacks have sharply reduced shipping through the crucial route to markets in Asia, the Middle East and Europe in a campaign that the Houthis say will continue as long as the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip continues.
The drone attack occurred around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeidah, the British military’s UK Maritime Trade Operations center said. He said the ship was damaged but the sailors aboard it “were reported safe.” He did not elaborate on the extent of the damage suffered by the Greek-owned, Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, but said an investigation was underway.
Hours after the attack, Houthi military spokesman Brig. General Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the attack and said the rebels were targeting the Transworld Navigator. Saree claimed, without offering evidence, that the rebels used an unmanned boat in the attack, something that contradicts every other report about the assault.
The US military’s Central Command also identified the ship with the same name and said several sailors on board suffered minor injuries in the attack.
The Transworld Navigator “most recently docked in Malaysia and was en route to Egypt,” Central Command said. “This is the fourth attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis against the ship.”
He The Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks. He targeted specific vessels and fired other missiles and drones in his campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have seized a boat and sunk two since November. A US-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with a series of strikes on May 30 killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, rebels say.
The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the war between Israel and Hamas, including those headed to the Houthis’ main benefactor, Iran.
He Eisenhowerbased in Norfolk, Virginia, returns home after a deployment of more than eight months in combat that the Navy says is its most intense since World War II. The one based in San Diego USS Theodore Roosevelt will take Eisenhower’s place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
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